Levon Helm - Nearing the End

[R_of_G]

The statement below was posted at www.levonhelm.com today. Though it's not surprising as we all knew he had cancer, it's nonetheless sad. Levon Helm is a national treasure and one of my all time favorite musicians. His loss will be a tremendously sad one for the world.

From www.levonhelm.com

Dear Friends,
Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.

Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage...

We appreciate all the love and support and concern.
From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy

[Tig***]

How truly sad.
Not everyone gets a chance to say "thank you and farewell". However, I'm not sure which is harder for the survivors, sudden loss or knowing what will happen.

We'll soon be losing Robin Gibb, too. His classical "Titanic Requiem" composition work actually helped his health tremendously until a recent bout with pneumonia and resulting coma.

[Spudman***]

I've been thinking about this scenario a lot lately. We're all getting older and so are the musicians that we grew up listening to and idolizing. In our lifetimes we are going to see a lot of them go on to the next leg of the journey. It's going to be really sad because of all the memories they have created in our lives.

[Duffy]

I remember buying my first album by "The Band" in probably the Summer of '68. At the first listen the music was obviously something completely new to me compared to anything else. The album got better every time I listened to it, as sometimes happens. Not long after that I went to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and got to see them play. That was again something "way" different than any concert I had been to before. After every song or two the band members switched instruments - including Levon Helm, who played a different instrument while someone else played drums - and the quality of every song was really nice. At the time I thought that they were the most professional group of muscians I had ever seen on a rock stage. They pulled out all kinds of instruments that I had never seen a rock band use before, including some instruments I had never seen before.

Those are two events I'll never forget; buying that album and going to that concert.

Levon Helm and Robin Gibb are definitely on my mind these days.